The group has released several EPs including their debut Young Liars (2003), and five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014).
For most of the band's existence, the core TV on the Radio lineup has been Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars/keyboards/loops), Kyp Malone (vocals/guitars/bass/loops), Jaleel Bunton (drums/vocals/loops/guitars) and Gerard Smith (bass/keyboards) as official members.
The band's Bio from their website:
TV on the Radio gets to do anything. Like a small platoon whose pleasing impenetrability is their core, the band consistently confounds expectations while managing to balance respect from critics and peers alike. The result is TV on the Radio gets to do anything they want. This freedom is their engine.
“It’s about doing what feels right,” says singer Tunde Adebimpe. “I really feel like this band is something that is expansive and always changing and growing. If we wear our influences on our sleeve, it’s a pretty crowded sleeve.”
It’s no different with Seeds, the new and fifth proper studio album that Adebimpe has made along with Jaleel Bunton, Kyp Malone, and David Andrew Sitek (who also produced it). Having long outlasted that early 2000s fascination with all things Brooklyn to which the hip willfully succumbed, they continue to conquer music on their own terms. This album serves as another step in continuing to heed their reputation as “the most vital, current band in America” (Associated Press).
This go-round the songs are immediate and triumphant, textured with storytelling hooks and possibly the most honest music this band has ever composed. They’ve hit a point where they’re OK being straight-up beautiful without having to manipulate prettiness into whatever unforeseen shape.
Slate says Seeds has “TV on the Radio’s best songs in years. They are sounding sharper than ever.” And the band knows it. Adebimpe has already said this is the band’s best record. Not a boast, just an observation.
“I feel like I knew it before we were done,” he says immediately. “I was so excited by the songs while we were making them, I wanted to get more and more and more into it. The general feeling going into it was, 'We're still here. Our friendship with each other is so strong. Being in a band, at its best times, is like being... well, let’s say whenever things are going really well, we're like ‘cool, Voltron's back together.’“
The TV on the Radio guys are the type of people who go on hiatus and focus on music. They may take time between albums for their other endeavors, but they know when it’s right to come together – especially when the music comes as easily and passionately as it did with case Seeds. The band found themselves collected in David Sitek’s Los Angeles studio last year and recorded a couple of songs – “Mercy” and “Million Miles” and didn’t want to stop.
“Those were just songs that we wrote because we hadn't written songs together in a while,” says Sitek “They came out really fast and inspired us to do it again – and then ‘again’ turned into the record.”
Adebimpe and Sitek live in Los Angeles, Bunton and Malone reside in New York, but make no mistake: TV on the Radio is a quartet. To attempt to parse out exactly what each member does in the group would be to dismantle the fundamental essence of what makes TV on the Radio the monolithic anomaly they have been careful to cultivate and protect for more than a decade. They permeate beyond a wall of sound, and instead create a planetarium of music with every song. They embody many voices. Most of them can play just about anything. And sing too. They are equal partners in the creation of a type of noise that appeared seemingly out of nowhere over 10 years ago.
Throughout the years, TV on the Radio has been consistent in the standard they set for themselves. Earlier records, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and Return To Cookie Mountain stole the hearts of fans and critics alike just the same, winning the Shortlist Music Prize and Spin's Album of the Year respectively. Their breakout release Dear Science was named best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin Magazine, The New York Times, The Onion AV Club, MTV, even Entertainment Weekly. An embarrassment of riches, really. Their last album, 2011's Nine Types of Light, was deemed "pure heaven" by the cherubs at Rolling Stone, and earned the band a Grammy® nomination. The band has also graced the stages of Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Report.
“The band is it’s own ‘self.’ It has to be that way,” Adebimpe says. “That's been the goal for a long time. Nobody really wants to be the focal point for the band; the band should be the focal point. Not even the band: the music. We can show up and take credit for it, but ultimately it's something that maybe we helped shape and facilitate coming into the world. But that’s all.”
They happily recruit likeminded associates to help prop up this invention of theirs in the studio and on stage. (Kelis, for instance, appears on “Lazzeray”). The band has recorded and performed with other artists who’ve conquered the music world on their own terms just as much as they have. Fellow mavericks like Trent Reznor, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame, Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, Martin Perna of Antibalas, Katrina Ford of Celebration, and David chuffing Bowie have all romped in the sandbox with TV on the Radio.
“If you share a material thing, it dissipates,” Adebimpe says, recalling a fragment of philosophy he once heard, or might be improvising on the spot. “If you share a spiritual thing, it just increases. It becomes more and more and more. I'm already thinking about the next record.”
Seeds is an expression of everything this band has been through in the last three years and more. They’re influential, in their prime, they’re TV on the Radio, and they’ve proven themselves to be one of the most important bands of this generation. It clicks, as it always does, and TV on the Radio is brand new again, again.
“No matter what you go through individually and collectively, when you step away from each other, you're kind of like, "I know that if we get together we can fire this thing," says Adebimpe. “It's definitely in the spirit of the punk rock we all grew up with. If you win, you're still a punk. If you lose, you're still a punk, and honestly, it's not about anybody else.”
http://www.tvontheradio.com/
Wear You Out
TV on the Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For want of room
And I'm forgettin' to breathe
But the sight of you
Has me instantly
Remember my needs
And the beat breaks in
And I'm smellin' your sweet
Should I spend the next six hours
Tryin' to get you
Off your feet?
Oh no girl, just pretend
There ain't no one else around
So let's break it down
Ooh, let's break it down
Watch a room full of roosters
Turned to cocks runnin' wild
Scramblin' like hungry dogs
Towards you, child
See those boys tryin' to sweat you
Watchin' grown men cry
Like you're shakin' it
Like you're shakin' it
Like you're shakin' it
Put somethin' in their eyes
Oh wide open eyes
Well here I am
Just a man
Is this light flattering?
Did you notice my crown of feathers
And check out my vital vibrant comb?
Oh puff chest out and play strong
Grab you by the hair and pull you along
Or do I just talk to you
And tell you what I really
Really really want to do
Stop because you think that you
Know where this is going
Couldn't stop it girl
If you knew where this was going
You don't know the half
You seem so so smart
Ooh, but you're so wrong
Closing time
Pale blue lights gonna shine
In through any open window
Nighttime says goodbye
Let's pursue this argument in darkness
Curtains drawn, limbs entwined
Now you're two hours away
From starting your day
And you can't be late
So let's get straight
Let me wear you out
Let me wear you out
Let me make you mine, mine, mine
Let me make you mine, mine, mine
The song "Wear You Out" by TV on the Radio is essentially a seduction song. The lyrics speak of the singer's intense desire for his love interest and how he wants to "wear her out." He has been caught up in the energy of the room and the sight of her, and wants to break it down and be alone with her. The opening lines describe the physical sensations he is experiencing while being close to her: he is barely able to move and is forgetful of his own needs. However, the sight of her has instantly reminded him of his desire for her.
The second half of the song speaks more directly of the singer's intentions. He talks of a room full of men who are all drawn to the woman he desires, and goes so far as to refer to her as "child." He sees himself as the alpha male in the room, with a "crown of feathers" and a "vital vibrant comb." He contemplates the possibility of just talking to her and telling her what he wants, but decides that he wants to pursue her physically. The song ends with him pleading with her to let him "wear her out" and make her his.
Overall, this song is a pulsing and passionate declaration of desire. The lyrics are vivid and suggestive, painting a vivid picture of the setting and the singer's emotions. The beat is frenetic and the energy is intense, perfectly capturing the urgency of the singer's feelings.
Line by Line Meaning
I can barely move
For want of room
And I'm forgettin' to breathe
The singer is feeling cramped and overwhelmed, but seeing their love interest reminds them to focus on their own needs and take a deep breath.
But the sight of you
Has me instantly
Remember my needs
The singer is describing how their love interest's presence helps them to remember their own needs and feelings.
Oh the lights spin
And the beat breaks in
And I'm smellin' your sweet
The singer is describing the excitement of being in a crowded, lively space with their love interest and being attracted to their scent.
Should I spend the next six hours
Tryin' to get you
Off your feet?
The artist is contemplating whether to devote the upcoming period of time solely to winning over their love interest and making them feel special.
Oh no girl, just pretend
There ain't no one else around
So let's break it down
Ooh, let's break it down
The artist is encouraging their love interest to ignore the other people around them and focus on their connection to each other.
Watch a room full of roosters
Turned to cocks runnin' wild
Scramblin' like hungry dogs
Towards you, child
The singer is describing the other men in the room as competitive, animalistic creatures vying for the attention of the love interest.
See those boys tryin' to sweat you
Watchin' grown men cry
The singer is describing the other men in the room as pathetic, desperate for the love interest's affection and attention.
Like you're shakin' it
Like you're shakin' it
Like you're shakin' it
Put somethin' in their eyes
Oh wide open eyes
The artist is encouraging their love interest to dance and move provocatively, knowing that it will attract the attention of others and make them feel empowered.
Well here I am
Just a man
Is this light flattering?
Did you notice my crown of feathers
And check out my vital vibrant comb?
The artist is poking fun at their own attraction to the love interest, comparing themselves to a rooster and pointing out their own features in a humorous way.
Oh puff chest out and play strong
Grab you by the hair and pull you along
Or do I just talk to you
And tell you what I really
Really really want to do
The artist is considering how to approach the love interest - should they be forceful and macho, or genuine and honest about their intentions?
Stop because you think that you
Know where this is going
Couldn't stop it girl
If you knew where this was going
You don't know the half
You seem so so smart
Ooh, but you're so wrong
The singer is suggesting that the love interest may think they know what's going to happen next, but they are mistaken and there is more to the situation than they realize.
Closing time
Pale blue lights gonna shine
In through any open window
Nighttime says goodbye
The artist is acknowledging that the night is coming to an end and that the love interest will have to leave soon.
Let's pursue this argument in darkness
Curtains drawn, limbs entwined
Now you're two hours away
From starting your day
And you can't be late
So let's get straight
The singer is suggesting that they continue their intimate encounter even though it's late at night and the love interest has to leave early in the morning for work or another obligation.
Let me wear you out
Let me wear you out
Let me make you mine, mine, mine
Let me make you mine, mine, mine
The singer is expressing their desire to physically exhaust and emotionally consume the love interest, while also claiming them as their own.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: BABATUNDE O ADEBIMPE, DAVID SITEK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind